


A Lesson in Communication

by SpaceTrash (lavlonglovefin)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Forgive Me, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, also cursing, and just all around dorks, hahahaha this is just self indulgent confession fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 19:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7654378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavlonglovefin/pseuds/SpaceTrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith wasn’t stupid, he knew when something was wrong. Sure, social cues and jokes sometimes went over his head, but when it came to his friends not much slipped past.</p><p>There was definitely something up with Lance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lesson in Communication

“Hey, watch where you’re swinging that thing!” Lance shouts in surprise as he ducks, avoiding Keith’s blade as they dance around one another in the training simulator. 

“I wasn’t aiming for you, idiot,” A soft growl escaping his lips as he charges at the Altean training droid. “If you had been paying attention, you wouldn’t have run right towards it!”

The two turn to one another, their glaring interrupted as Shiro shoves past. Using his arm as a deterrent against the droid, he glances at the both of them. 

"Knock it off,” A grunt as he pushes the droid away for a moment, allowing Lance to take aim and fire off a few shots as Keith takes advantage of the moment to flank their adversary. 

The training simulation doesn’t take too much longer with the help of Pidge and Hunk. They were definitely becoming an efficient team, despite having some tension between them once in awhile. At this rate, they might even have a chance against Zarkon in the future. 

But Keith wasn’t stupid, he knew when something was wrong. Sure, social cues and jokes sometimes went over his head, but when it came to his friends not much slipped past.

There was definitely something up with Lance.

It’s not that there was anything specific, in the way that he talked or presented himself around their team. No, it was the little things. A missed jab at Keith’s expense or looking away when they caught each other's eye for example. He would catch him staring once in awhile  but as soon as he looked over, Lance was striking up a conversation with Pidge. Or Hunk. Or whomever was closest, with the exception of Keith. It was the little things that added up. Honestly, he shouldn’t care what was bothering Lance if it didn’t affect his performance (it was starting to) and put the other paladins at risk (it wasn’t quite that bad yet). But he couldn’t help the gnawing that started in the pit of his stomach, an itch he couldn’t scratch that left him wondering. 

 

\--

_ “Lance!” Keith shouted, fumbling with his sword as he pushed himself up from the floor. He felt like Hunk had body slammed him with that damn lion of his with how busted his ribs were. He had been knocked down by galra forces earlier, an ambush on what was supposed to be a routine cargo ship attainment. Running low on medical supplies it had seemed like the best plan, at the time.  _

_ Lance was at the other end of the hall, soldiers approaching his position. He was in bad shape, and Keith… He was too far. There was no way he was going to make it in time. They were going to tear him apart. He could only hold his own for so long against an endless wave of soldiers.  _

_ Brandishing his bayard, Keith let out a cry before charging at the soldiers. He had to try. Oh God, he had to try.  _

_ “Keith-- no!” _

_ \-- _

“Hey Coran, thanks for dinner again. It was great.” Lance interrupts Keith’s train of thought as he pushes his plate towards the center of the table and away from himself. “I think I’m going to head to bed now though, all this space stuff is exhausting, huh?” 

Keith flicks his gaze up from the remaining goo on his plate to Lance as he stands from the table, and he can’t help but wonder what’s going on in that big head of his. Locking eyes for just a tick, it’s the brunette who looks away first, the constant smirk playing on his lips faltering briefly. 

Is it because of  _ him _ ? 

Of how he is now? He knew that his appearance was different as of recent, but Lance had never voiced outright discomfort when he was around. He find the idea of being the cause for Lance’s recent behavior unsettling. 

Keith waits another few moments before setting his spoon down in his bowl. 

“I’m heading to the training deck. Thanks for dinner, Coran.”  Brow knitting together in a frown, Keith excuses himself.

“Oh, well alright then, thank you for your hard work!” Coran replies quickly, spoon halfway to his lips, already working on his second bowl of green goo.

“Training, suuure.”  Keith doesn’t miss the comment from under Pidge’s breath, nor Shiro’s raised brow. Brushing it off, he takes his jacket from the back of his seat and shrugs it on as he leaves. It wasn’t worth the effort to try and talk with them about it. 

He wasn’t lying about training, not really. Heading towards the training simulator, Keith could only hope he would run into his fellow paladin on the way there. Some Altean god of luck must’ve been shining down on him at the moment as he turned the corner and saw the blue paladin further down the hall.

“Lance. Lance!” He repeats himself louder when the brunet doesn’t react, increasing his pace.

His recent physiological changes had been shocking-- not just the outwards appearance of his skin that had mottled into a deep mauve or the obvious feline ears atop his head, but his senses had increased as well. There was an explanation for when he had a ‘bad feeling’ about something, elevated speed, and his reflexes were almost cat-like. All in all, it was a useful thing to have in combat. But coming to terms with being…  _ Galra  _ of all things, was taking time. 

Learning to accept a new part of himself that was forced upon him as it had been resulted in more sleepless nights and angry tears than he cared to admit. The rest of the Voltron team had been more than supportive, if not a little shell shocked when they had come back from a mission to see a purple Keith. Coran and Hunk had gone out of their way to find out if there were any dietary requirements, Pidge had figured out a way to create a cloaking device when they were on diplomatic missions. It projected an image of Keith as he appeared human, hiding the galra. They were supposed to be enemies, after all. Not every galra was the same, but the overarching impression of the race wasn’t a positive one when trying to establish peaceful relationships on behalf of Voltron. 

Shiro and Allura had been more than supportive, offering a friendly ear when one was needed without hesitation. Honestly, Keith didn’t know how he could thank them enough for how well they were taking it in stride. More so than himself, most days. The only one who seemed unaffected by it had been Lance. They had grown a lot closer over the past few months, working together as a team. Sure, they still teased one another. But it was friendly. They always had one another's back, someone the other could always count on no matter what. 

\--

_ No matter how he tried, Keith couldn’t focus on anything aside from the hot rage that seared through his veins. Too hot. What…  _ Lance.  _ He had to find him. Get him out of danger… Protect him.  _

_ Whatever happened next was a blur to Keith, his memory fragmented with bursts of color from the hall and what he could only assume was blood, the smell of burning flesh prominent, a pain in his shoulder. And Lance’s voice, cutting through everything.  _

_ “Keith?! Keith, oh my God, it’s okay. Hey, hang in there,” His voice was panicked, slurring through words with exhaustion as he held Keith close to him. It wasn’t the Keith he had entered the ship with, a much furrier version, but Lance didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let go of him until they were off of the ship.  _

_ Together. _

\--

Lance turned at the sound of Keith’s voice, lips parted in a small ‘o’ at the sight of his friend following behind him.

“Hey, Keith, my man.” Lance put on a smile, but he didn’t stop walking. “I was just heading to bed. I’ll catch you tomorrow though, yeah?” 

How long was he going to keep this up? They didn’t have the time to keep dancing around this. There was a war going on, and yes, maybe this was trivial but Keith wasn’t letting go of it so easily.

“What’s wrong with you lately?” If Keith was anything, he was blunt. 

The question obviously caught Lance off guard as he stopped where he was, finally turning all the way around to face him. “What are you talking about?” He can’t quite meet Keith’s gaze, roaming over his body as if in search of that chink in his armor that would tell him what was wrong without further prying. Lance felt his face heat up as he moved to scratch the base of his neck, a nervous habit he hadn’t kicked. “Stop undressing me with your eyes, dude, all you have to do is ask if you want my clothes off.” 

He regrets it the second it leaves his mouth. If his blush wasn’t noticeable before, Keith would have to be blind not to notice it now. Sure, he had the tendency to be a flirt, but with Keith? Those weren’t waters he wanted to test right now, the thought of putting their friendship at risk with stupid things he said (even if he meant them) made his stomach turn. “I-I mean, uh,” Lance turned his eyes to the ceiling, a poor attempt at covering his ass. 

“What-- Why would you say that?” Keith knew Lance had no filter, but that definitely wasn’t what he had been expecting him to say. His own cheeks were stained an even darker purple as he stared at the taller boy with obvious bewilderment.  

“I-” Lance stopped short. He could lie. He could continue to avoid Keith, to avoid the whole thing altogether and just suppress how he felt. But meeting the red paladin’s gaze, any thought of keeping it from him was pushed aside. Keith had this fire in his eyes, and even if he didn’t feel the same, he deserved to know. “Do you remember when you.. When you realized you were galra, Keith?” 

“More or less. Is that what this is about? My heritage?” Keith frowned, his suspicions seemingly confirmed. It did have to do with him. With how he was. He didn’t think it would hurt so much to hear it straight from his lips. What the fuck, Lance? 

“No, no!” He’s quick to continue, seeing the way Keith casts his eyes to the side, his ears pulling down, and holy shit--  _ he’s cute.  _ Not just in a ‘please push your body against mine’ way but also in a ‘i don’t ever want to cause you pain again’ sort of way. “Just let me finish, okay?” His voice is softer now. This isn’t wasn’t how he had imagined confessing but he didn’t have much choice at this point. 

Keith doesn’t say anything, resting his hand on his hip and looking at Lance expectantly. Whatever it was, he was glad Lance was trusting him with what he was about to say, on the other hand too many ‘what if’ scenarios ran through his head.

What if he couldn’t stand to be around him? What if he hated him now? What if he had never liked him to begin with? What if this was just the tipping point for Lance? What if he thought he should leave the team? 

What if--? He’s interrupted by the sound of Lance clearing his throat.

“I was really scared when we were on that ship. I thought we were going to die, Keith.” He pauses, running a hand through his hair. “But, we didn’t. Because of you. You… You changed, yeah, sure. But you saved us. And I don’t think I’d ever been so turned on.” Lance feels his cheeks heat up again as Keith opens his mouth to say something. Okay, wrong choice of words. 

“What I’m trying to say, Keith, I really like you. Like, a lot. And I’ve been keeping it to myself for a long time but coming so close to dying and knowing you saved me, you changed so you could save me, I just…” Trailing off, he clears his throat. “It meant a lot. And the thought of dying without telling you what I had realized,” Another pause as a shiver runs down his spine. “So, um, yeah. I just didn’t know how. But. Here we are. In the castle. Hallway. Me. Telling you.” A nervous giggle slips past his lips. 

“Wait, Lance,” Keith’s brow is furrowed as he takes it all in. “This has nothing to do with me being galra? But,” Lance nods. “Because you  _ like  _ me?” His cheeks haven’t lost their dark purple hue, eyes widening slightly. “Like-like, right? Not just as friends?

Lance almost laughs at the way he puts it, nodding. “Yeah, not just as friends, Keith. If you don’t feel the same, that’s okay, I don’t want to ruin things between us. Honest. It just feels soo much better to get that off my chest!” He stretches his arms above his head with a sigh. 

Keith doesn’t say anything for a moment, and as Lance glances down at him, concerned he had royally fucked up, Keith’s lips pull up into a soft smile. “I’m really glad that it’s not because of how I look now, Lance.” Clearing his throat, he looks up to meet Lance’s gaze. “I like you too, you know. I… I don’t think I had a name for it until now. Except for this feeling in my chest? And you still kind of piss me off, but I don’t want to see you hurt anymore. Because that’s how you deserve to always look, dork.” 

Feeling his heart skip a beat, Lance nods silently as a silly grin spreads across his face while Keith continues. “Hey, can I.. Can I kiss you?” He’s hesitant but it doesn’t stop him from asking. Lance doesn’t even have to say anything in response, reaching out to cup Keith’s face and placing his lips gently against his. They’re warmer than he expected them to be, and it’s only a moment before the initial gentleness is abandoned for a more fervent pace. 

They aren’t perfectly matched, clashing teeth every so often, but Lance wouldn’t trade this for anything. They’d have time to learn the curves of one another. To learn more of what made the other smile, how they fit together.

 

Neither of them could wait to learn more, together.

**Author's Note:**

> Galra Keith is everything. A quick practice in characterization, mostly. Admittedly I've only done a quick read through and would love to go back and edit it soon, but I'm really itching to put it up. Thank you for reading!


End file.
